To simplify the fitting of automobile glass panes, it is known in the prior art to provide the glass pane with a profiled spacer embracing the border thereof, or firmly adhering to the side facing a fastening flange of the window frame. Profiled spacers embracing the border of the glass pane are generally composed of a thermoplastic polymer, such as PVC, or of a thermoset plastic, such as a polyurethane. Typically, these spacers are produced by injection-molding processes wherein the glass pane is placed in an injection-mold and the spacer is injection molded adhesively onto its border. Automobile glass panes of this type are described, for example, in European patent publication EP 0,076,924, U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,234 and Canadian patent No. 1,234,660.
Spacers adhering to one side on the border of the glass pane are composed generally of polyurethane reaction systems. Typically, these profiled spacers are formed on the glass pane as an extrusion die traverses along its border. Such glass panes are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,571,278, 4,938,521 and 4,933,032.
If automobile glass panes are fastened in the window frame of the body by means of a bead of adhesive, it is generally not only necessary to position the glass pane carefully within the window opening, but also to hold mechanically the pane at least until the bead of adhesive has hardened to such an extent that it no longer deforms under the weight of the pane. In addition to the positioning of the glass pane in the plane of the window opening, an individual positioning of the glass pane in the direction perpendicular to the surface area of the window opening is also necessary. This is because bent glass panes generally have bending tolerances in the border region which have to be compensated by the corresponding adaptation of the installation depth, such as in the case of a flush-border installation.
In order to fix the glass pane during the hardening phase of the fitting adhesive within the window opening, it is also known, for example, to bond individual fastening straps of plastically deformable metal adhesively to the glass pane along its border region. These straps are bent around the fastening flange of the window frame once the glass pane has been positioned. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,159. This known method requires additional manual work in order to bend the individual fastening straps.